And then there’s the peculiar, gnawingly likeable Joey Barton: the footballer who regularly — and admirably — pierces the dull fog of footballerisms that sterilizes the vast majority of post-match interviews and press conferences. He criticized the England team for cashing in on dismal World Cup performances by publishing post-tournament books; he flashed his bum at Everton fans who had been taunting him about his incarcerated brother; and, of late, he has been become quite easily the most surprising player on Twitter, re-tweeting quotes by Nietzche, offering his opinion on the Labour Party leadership, and recommending Naomi Wolf novels to his followers.

Somewhat predictably, his boundless honesty has landed him in trouble — a flurry of barely-veiled tweets criticizing the blundering board at Newcastle United proved the final straw, and Barton was transfer listed on Wednesday. Whoever his new employers prove to be, it’s likely that his online activities will be highly scrutinized.

Few African national soccer teams in recent years have supplied as many impact players to Europe as Ivory Coast. Sven Goran Eriksson, the team’s new manager, is no doubt familiar with the Ivorian stars of the Premier League like Didier Drogba, Salomon Kalou and Emmanuel Eboue. But many of the country’s best players began their European careers in France, and it is in Ligue 1 where Eriksson might find the next name for his World Cup roster this summer: Gervais Yao Kouassi, known as Gervinho.

“He astounds me. It’s impossible to guess what he’s going to do on the pitch. Sometimes I ask myself if he even knows,” Rio Mavuba, Gervinho’s teammate at Lille, told L’Equipe in December after Gervinho played a key part in the team’s 4-0 defeat of St Etienne.

His breakthrough game came two years ago at the Beijing Olympics, when he was captain of the Ivory Coast team and made a bold impression in its opening game against Argentina. While Lionel Messi may have stolen the headlines, scoring one goal and assisting on another in a 2-1 victory, Gervinho showed flashes of skill and impressive pace worthy of his Brazilian nickname.Read more…

Matrin Rickett/Associated PressDavid Beckham, returning to Old Trafford with AC Milan, dons the colors of an anti-Glazer protest by Manchester United fans.

It was a highly significant game in the Champions League knockout match between Manchester United and AC Milan last night and Wayne Rooney continued his devastating form with two more goals in what is a 30-goal season so far. Nani made one of the assists of the tournament to set up Rooney’s second, curling the ball into his teammate’s path with the outside of his foot. The 4-0 defeat exposed AC Milan as an aging, blunt shadow of its former team, increasingly reliant on Ronaldinho’s capricious flashes of brilliance.

But guess who stole the show?

David Beckham’s return to Old Trafford, the stage on which he made his name, began on the bench. In the 63rd minute he replaced Ignazio Abate and barely restrained tears as the Manchester United fans chanted his name and rose as one to applaud their prodigal son. With Milan already 3-0 down, Beckham’s role was a cameo, and it was almost perfect. In the 74th minute, Rio Ferdinand headed the ball to clear the penalty area and it looped towards a waiting Beckham, whose viciously struck volley was tipped over the bar by United goalkeeper Edwin Van der Sar. For everyone who saw it, it was obvious that he’s still got it.

And Beckham’s ability to make headlines is as indisputable as ever. The game’s most memorable moment took place after the final whistle was blown, as the Milan players skulked off and the home crowd bellowed Beckham’s name. Last from the field, the 34-year-old England star clapped with the crowd, grabbed a green and gold scarf hurled from the stands onto the Old Trafford turf, and wrapped it around his neck.

Dozens of cameras snapped furiously and the crowd went berserk. Did he know what he had done?

As European soccer’s bureaucratic elite huddled through a sub-zero Warsaw dawn and into the Palace of Culture and Science on Sunday morning, a small white plastic ball was about to make history. For the first time, the proceedings of international tournament was about to be willingly – and publicly – manipulated.

A few minutes into the draw for the qualifying rounds of Euro 2012, Armenia was plucked from a bowl and drawn to play in Group A; at that stage populated only by Azerbaijan. The dapper, bald-headed Gianni Infantino, UEFA general secretary and host for the day, chuckled before turning to the vast crowd. “Exactly what should not have happened has happened,” he joked, as the auditorium played along, laughing nervously. Then something remarkable happened. Armenia were swiftly removed from Group A, and were shuffled into Group B, alongside Andorra.

The reasoning for this move had been circulated a day earlier. UEFA had decided that Armenia and Azerbaijan, whose diplomatic relations are non-existent because of a 22-year feud over the Azeri province of Nagorno-Karabakh, would not be allowed to compete in the same group. The same would go for Georgia and Russia, who were to be kept apart after the two countries’ 2008 conflict in South Ossetia. The draw was more cooperative when their names were pulled from the bowls, separating the two naturally.

The decision was unprecedented – never before had teams in an international tournament been forbidden from meeting.

It was the brightest flash of brilliant Orange. In a 1974 World Cup group match between the Netherlands and Sweden, Johan Cruyff picked the ball up on the edge of the box under pressure from a defender, feigned to cross, then pulled the ball back between his legs, leaving the Swedish fullback flailing like a drunken sea captain. And just like that, the Cruyff Turn was born.
Since then, there have been other moves that have become synonymous with an individual player. At the World Cup in South Africa this year, we can hope to see some of the players performing their signature moves in action.

Four relatively unknown teams from remote corners of Europe will host their first UEFA Champions League group stage games. Debreceni VSC, Rubin Kazan, F.C. Unirea Urziceni and APOEL Nicosia are competing with the likes of Real Madrid and Manchester United for a share of more than $1.5 billion and the most coveted title in European club soccer.

F.C. Unirea Urziceni

Daniel Mihailescu/AFP/Getty ImagesFC Unirea Urziceni won its first league title in the club’s 55-year history last season.

F.C. Unirea Urziceni opened its Champions League campaign with a 2-0 loss to Sevilla in the 45,000-seat Estadio Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán, which could fit more than twice the population of Urziceni, a small market town in Romania’s southeastern plains.

Unirea won its first league title in the club’s 55-year history last season, only two years after winning promotion to the top division. The club’s Tineretului Stadium, nestled among vineyards on the outskirts of Urziceni, holds only 7,000 spectators, well below UEFA’s mandated minimum capacity, so the team will play Stuttgart on Tuesday at the Steaua Bucharest Stadium in the Romanian capital.

The fate of the club is interlocked with the aspirations of its manager, the national hero and former Chelsea fullback Dan Petrescu. After undistinguished managerial stints at Wisla Krakow in Poland and Rapid Bucharest, Petrescu arrived in Unirea in 2006 and went about overhauling the roster. Only one player remains from before Petrescu’s arrival.

Players to watch

Giedrius Arlauskis: The 21-year-old Lithuanian is one of the most promising young goalkeepers in Europe.

Vasile Maftei: The defensive lynchpin and former captain of Rapid Bucharest joined the club this summer.

Iulian Apostol: The active midfielder’s impressive performances for the club have made him a mainstay on the Romanian national team.

Manchester City’s hearts and minds campaign seems to have failed in the wake of striker Emmanuel Adebayor’s controversial performance in last weekend’s Premier League match against his former team, Arsenal. On Tuesday, the Togolese forward was hit with two charges by the Football Association: violent conduct and improper conduct.

The striker turned in a scintillating performance during City’s 4-2 victory, capped by a goal in the 80th minute.

But then he did this:

As if running the length of the pitch to celebrate manically in front of the irate Arsenal fans wasn’t enough, he also did this:

The fallout from Adebayor’s performance has rumbled through the week. Robin Van Persie, the Arsenal forward who felt the brush of Adebayor’s studs, issued an angry statement condemning his former teammate for his “malicious” intent. Arsenal captain Cesc Fabregas also claimed that Adebayor had tried to stamp on him during the game, and midfielder Alexandre Song, who is believed to be one of Adebayor’s closest friends, alleged that the striker had slapped him in the face (literally as well as figuratively).Read more…

When West Ham drew Millwall in the second round of the Carling Cup, England’s secondary cup competition, there were audible gasps in the Sky Sports studio. Separated by two divisions, West Ham and Millwall rarely come head to head, but their historic rivalry is one of the fiercest in global soccer.

The match, which took place on Tuesday night, finished 3-1 to east London’s West Ham, but little attention has been paid to the score. Before the game there were large-scale disturbances on Green Street, a thoroughfare made famous by the eponymous 2005 film in which Elijah Wood played an American caught up in the rivalry between the London rivals. Amateur footage obtained by the Telegraph shows riot police attempting to control the crowds:

About

Goal, The New York Times soccer blog, will report on news and features from the world of soccer and around the Web. Times editors and reporters will follow international tournaments and provide analysis of games. There will be interviews with players, coaches and notable soccer fans, as well as a weekly blog column by Red Bulls forward Jozy Altidore. Readers can discuss Major League Soccer, foreign leagues and other issues with fellow soccer fans.